Flags are an enormously charged symbol. Anyone who wants to matter as a group rallies behind a flag, and immediately feels connected to another person who also stands behind that flag – and even more: anyone who opposes that flag is an enemy. Attack a flag, and you are attacking an entire group that identifies with it. Yet it is just a flag. A piece of cloth. And apparently, an entire soul resides in it.

Where a group stands for something, there is also a group against the same thing – and not merely opposed, but filled with pure hatred. Two groups, directly opposed. Each with its own flag, each with its own ideology.

In this installation, you literally attack the other party’s flag because it is presented as a utilitarian object: a doormat. Visitors are confronted with the choice of which of the two opposing parties’ flags they will step on.

A slightly less confrontational version incorporates the flags into a runner. A runner elevates the flag to a status symbol, and the choice of where one walks becomes more ambiguous.

Depending on the location of the installation, different flags are used in the mats. Everywhere in the world, there are sensitivities that provoke strong emotions when one steps on the “wrong” flag.

Countries, regions, political parties, religious counterparts. Each has a flag they rally behind and will defend at all times.